Versatile Basketball Hall of Fame welcomes four very different inductees

AP file photoMembers of the Hall of Fame Class of 2011 hold up jerseys during April announcement.

SPRINGFIELD – A clown, an offensive genius, a contributor and a Mr. Europa join a shrine on West Columbus Avenue.

It can only happen at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Reece “Goose” Tatum, Morice “Tex” Winter, Tom “Satch” Sanders and Arvydas Sabonis will be enshrined Friday at Symphony Hall as part of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2011.

While the other major sports’ halls of fame are more geared toward professional sports – and mainly in the United States – the Basketball Hall of Fame has a more all-encompassing approach that has led to an entertainer like Tatum, an assistant coach like Winter, an off-the-court success story like Sanders and a primarily European star like Sabonis earning a place in basketball history.

The original “Clown Prince of Basketball,” Tatum, who passed away in 1967 at age 45, was elected through a newly formed committee for African-American pioneers of the game.

Tatum joined the Harlem Globetrotters in 1941 after a stint playing baseball in the National Negro League for Indianapolis and Birmingham.

Tatum’s exceptional athletic ability and fun-loving nature made him a natural for the Globetrotters, and he quickly took a lead role in the team’s antics that have entertained millions of fans worldwide for 80 years.

The Harlem Globetrotters were inducted as a team in 2002. Tatum is the seventh individual Globetrotter to be honored after Meadowlark Lemon, Marques Haynes, William “Pop” Gates, Connie Hawkins, Wilt Chamberlain and Abe Saperstein.

While Tatum relished the spotlight, Tex Winter was satisfied working his magic behind the scenes, or at least in the second chair.

Winter was Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson’s assistant for nine of his 11 NBA championships, bringing his triangle offense to the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers for stars like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Winter learned the triangle while playing for Sam Barry at the University of Southern California. His first head coaching job came at Marquette, the beginning of a 29-year college stint that brought him 454 wins.

He had a two-year stretch as the coach of the Houston Rockets of the NBA, but the bulk of his professional career came as an assistant.

“There have been many who were assistant coaches and went on to be head coaches, but he is the first to primarily be an assistant coach and be elected to the Hall of Fame,” Hall of Fame president and chief executive officer John L. Doleva said. “Of course, a lot of his coaches would call him a co-coach and not an assistant because he was so valuable.”

Sanders had a very good NBA career, playing 13 seasons with the Boston Celtics, eight times winning the NBA title.

Sanders only averaged 9.6 points per game, but the 6-foot-6 forward specialized in defense, and why not? He played with no fewer than 14 Hall of Famers, including Bob Cousy, Tom Heinsohn, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones, Bill Russell and Dave Cowens. He also played under legendary coach Red Auerbach.

While he contributed on the court, it was his work off the court after retiring that earned him a place in the Honors Ring overlooking Center Court at the Hall of Fame.

Sanders started many programs for NBA players, such as the NBA Rookie Transition program, to help them on and off the court.

In 2007, Sanders was awarded the John Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hall of Fame.

Sabonis did not make his way to the NBA until he was 31, despite getting drafted by the Portland Trailblazers a decade earlier.

The 7-foot-3 Lithuanian was the best big man in Europe for more than a dozen years, winning an Olympic gold medal with Russia and a pair of bronze medals with Lithuania. He also won eight European Player of the Year awards, including two Mr. Europa awards.

He played seven years with Portland and the Trailblazers made the playoffs each season. He was named to the All-Rookie first team in 1995-96.

A good scorer and excellent rebounder, Sabonis also proved to be an adept passer out of the post.

Sabonis fits right in with Tatum and Winter as an atypical Hall of Fame inductee.